Method of forming insoles



June 10, 1930. H. M. GUSDORF 7 1,763,148

METHOD OF FORMING INSOLES Filed June 20, 1929 v lumen-roe, 7 Harold 17. fiusdarfl A We r :76.

Patented June 10, 1930 UNITED STATES HAROLD M. GUSDORF, OF

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA METHOD OF FORMING- INSOLES Application filed June 20,

Pig skin leather made from pig skin strips produces a remarkably satisfactory inner sole because of very natural desirable characteristics of the skin. The resulting inner soles are very flexible lengthwise and firm and less yielding crosswise, when out with longitudinal dimensions of the inner sole parallel with the backbone line of the pig. These natural characteristics lend a shape-keeping quality to the shoe across the wider portion of the foot and also add to the comfort of the wearer.

Pig skin strips are taken off the fatback of the pig by the packer. The custom of cutting up an animal for food consumption determines the location from whichthe strips are taken. The pig is cut into hams, shoulders, bellies, and backs. The pork-loin is pulled from this fat back and the skins from these fat backs, called pig skin strips, are used for tanning purposes. It is bounded by the backbone on one side, the belly on the other side, the shoulder on one end, and the ham on the other end. These strips usually measure five to six inches wide by eighteen to twenty-four inches long.

The use of pig skin leather for inner soles for shoes has been limited very much to the larger shoe manufacturers able to afford cutting departments equipped with the extensive assortment of dies for cutting out the variety of styles and sizes required by their output. Furthermore, the changes in styles and shapes makes the expense of dies heretofore required to cut the inner soles practically prohibitive except with large concerns or those having a very large production of practically. staple styles. 7 I

The manufacturers of shoes not equipped for die cutting have used what is known as blocked inner soles, which are made by in sole cutters in sizes larger than the final'inner sole is to be.

These are usually square on each end and curved on each side. The shoe manufacturer who uses them is at a disadvantage as to his cost of production of shoes as compared to the manufacturer who may cut exact required shapes directly from the strip, since the shoe manufacturer who cannot afford to cut with 1929. Serial No. 372,271.

dies, buying the blocked inner soles from the cutter, must not only pay the profit the cutter demands but must also pay, in the price to the cutter, the cutters sales and other fixed expenses, and then, the shoe manufacturer must add thereto his own cost of cutting the blocked inner sole down to the particular shapes required in his own plant. Besides this, the enormous waste of leather required to cut the block in the first place and then'to round themdown to smaller shapes is an actual economic loss.

My invention contemplates the cutting of the original pig skin leather strips into pieces large enough both in length and width to permit cutting therefrom,side by side, two inner soles, as will hereinafter be explained. This method makes pig skin leather practicable from a cost standpoint for shoe manufacturers who have been heretofore unable to use it because of their inadequate facilities.

The invention is herebelow described in detail, with reference being made to the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a diagram of a pig skin illustrating how a packer cuts the skin in cutting a slaughtered pig for meat;

Fig. 2, a plan view of a pig skin strip indicating by dash lines the line of division into blocks and the relative location of the inner soles to be cut therefrom;

Fig. 3, a view in perspective illustrating diagrammatically the method of cutting an insole from the leather block; and

Fig. 4:, a plan View of a blocked sole as heretofore supplied to the shoe manufacturers.

Like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several views in the drawing.

Referring to Fig. 1, the custom in slaughtering'pigs is to split the carcass into halves along the backbone shown by the line ab. Then the halves are cut on the lines c-d into hams, e-f into shoulders and on the lines g'h to make fatback portions 6 and bacon portions7. The skin is kept on all of the portions except the fatbacks 6 from which it is removed and tanned into pig skin leather.

Fig. 4 illustrates the waste which occurs in making block inner soles out of pig skin strips. The leather block for any desired size must be large enough to cut the shape of inner soles that may be required which usually precludes the securing of more than one blocked insole from a single width of pig skin leather. Hence, there would be much waste in cutting the blocked insole as shown by the outside dash lines in Fig. l, and ad- 10 ditional waste would be incurred in cutting the blocked insole shown in full lines down to the final shape shown by the inner dash lines. For this reason cutters have not made pig skin leather blocked inner soles.

In my method, I cut the original pig skin leather strips 6, by a transverse cut, into two blocks 8 and 9, both blocks, being amply wide to make two inner soles when the narrow heel-ends are reversed on the blocks as 20 shown in Fig. 2.

The inner soles may then be cut from these blocks 8 and 9 at once without the prior waste of the preliminary blocking. The blocks 8 and 9 are taken to the rounding machine (not 25 shown) and a pattern in the form of a wooden block 10 of the exact shape of the soles to be cut is properly placed and held against the leather block which is then passed across a knife 11, Fig. 3, with the wooden block servse ing as a guide to let the knife follow its contour and first out one inner sole 12 therefrom and then a second inner sole 13 both from the same leather block, all with the minimum of waste of the pig skin leather.

Therefore, in carrying out my invention, I cut the pig skin leather strips 6 into separate blocks 8 and 9, each of which will make two inner soles, and these blocks 8 and 9 are supplied directly to the shoe manufacturer who cuts the inner soles to the exact sizes directly from these blocks 8 and 9, thereby eliminating the heretofore preliminary wasteful and expensive blocking by a cutter.

I claim:

45 The method of cutting inner soles from pig skin which consists in cutting strips from the fat backs of pigs parallel to the back bone, cutting these strips transversely to form blocks each having a length parallel to the 59 length oi the strips and greater than the strip widths, and cutting two innersoles to exact sizes from each block, whereby each insole so formed will be composed of material flexible longitudinally but which will 5?. substantially resist any transverse stretch- In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

HARGLD M. GUSDORF. 

